Kapil Sibal accuses govt of misusing ED to harass opposition leaders

Kapil Sibal accused the government of misusing the ED to harass opposition leaders, especially during elections. Citing ED raids on I-PAC in Kolkata, he compared the agency's current actions with its functioning under the previous UPA government.

Sibal Accuses Government of Misusing ED

Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal said on Saturday accused the government of misusing the Enforcement Directorate to "harass opposition leaders" and said it reaches a state "when elections are there". Sibal, MP, who was interacting with the media, referred to the ED search at the I-PAC office in Kolkata and said, "the ED only reaches when the elections are there".

He also compared the ED's functioning under the Congress-led UPA government, when he was a union minister, and under the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government. "This morning, I was reminded of the UPA's tenure, from 2004 to 2014. The kind of news stories that are circulating in the newspapers today we didn't see during those 10 years because we didn't give the ED such a free hand... We didn't prosecute any political party or leader based on false information. Let's start with West Bengal. When the Enforcement Directorate was formed, we didn't know that it was an omnipresent prosecuting agency that could go anywhere in India, at any time, and attack the entire federal structure, in such a way as to harass opposition leaders," he said.

"When there is an FIR anywhere, the ED reaches there... The ED only reaches when the elections are there... The coal scam has been going on for years," he added.

ED-West Bengal Standoff

He also said that West Bengal created a dispute between the state and the Centre. Anticipating that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) would approach the Supreme Court against alleged interference by the West Bengal government in its search operations, the Mamta Banerjee-led state government has filed a caveat before the apex court, seeking that no order be passed without hearing it.

The caveat comes in the backdrop of ED's search raids conducted on Thursday at the headquarters of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) - a political consultancy firm linked to the All India Trinamool Congress, and at the Kolkata residence of its director, Pratik Jain.

High Court Adjourns Hearing Amid Legal Tussle

Calcutta High Court had adjourned the hearing on ED's urgent plea in which the central agency accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of obstructing ED officials and preventing them from performing their public duties, allegedly in a "flagrant and blatant disregard of law," during a search operation conducted in Kolkata on January 8.

The agency also alleged that the situation escalated after the Chief Minister entered the residential premises of Prateek Jain during an ED search and removed what the agency described as "key evidence", including physical documents and electronic devices.

Separately, the West Bengal government has filed a plea in the Calcutta High Court, alleging that the ED seized all data and digital records from I-PAC's office. In its petition, the Mamata Banerjee-led government has sought directions to the ED to return all seized materials, including private, sensitive and confidential data, along with information and documents taken in both physical and electronic form. The State government claimed that the allegedly unlawfully seized data belongs to the Trinamool Congress and relates to its party operations.

The matter was adjourned by a bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh on Thursday due to chaos and commotion inside the courtroom, which made it difficult to hear the case. The High Court has now posted the matter for hearing on January 14.

Background of the Raid

Earlier on January 8, the controversy erupted when the ED conducted searches at I-PAC's premises and at the Kolkata residence of its director in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to an alleged multi-crore coal pilferage scam. (ANI)

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